God Answers All Prayers

When we pray in hope instead of belief we open the door for doubt.  There are certainly places for hope, but in prayer is not one of them.  When we pray we must believe. We must believe that the One we pray to is able.  We must believe that God has the desire and the power to answer our prayer. We must also know that God loves us and is wise enough to understand what is truly necessary for our well being.

God has answered every prayer that has been earnestly offered to Him.  He has not overlooked a single petition from a sincere heart.

But here comes the rough part - His answer is not always what the one praying has desired or felt was necessary.  When people die in spite of prayers being offered to God, it is difficult to reconcile and we wonder why our prayers were not answered.  But they were. When bad things happen in our lives even though we prayed so diligently against them, it seems that God did not hear us. But He did and He answered.

When we are only hoping in prayer we leave room for the “God did not answer” argument.  But when we pray knowing that God answers our prayer, we understand that even when the situation does not turn out the way we desire - the job does not come through, the check does not come in, the cancer is still there, the loved one dies - He has still answered us.  And in His answer we can know that we have a Father in heaven that is full of love for us and is looking out for our well being.

As a parent I know my children do not understand why I say yes and why I say no sometimes to their requests.  Even though I may try to explain my reasoning, they do not get it. Sometimes it is not possible to see things from the other person’s perspective.  But when it comes to answering my children’s requests, my “yes” and my “no” has one thing in common, and they can be assured of this, in both answers is my love for them and my desire for their benefit.

When we know that God will answer our prayer and that His answer will be ALWAYS meant for our absolute benefit, there will be no circumstance, no event, nothing will overcome us.

Mark 14:36